9.22.2015

"You Indian piece of shit!" yelled the frat boy.

USC's Student Body President speaks out after racist fraternity house altercation.

Well, school's back in session. This week's edition of racist collegiate idiocy comes from the University of Southern California. Unsurprising bonus: It involves a fraternity. Over the weekend, USC's student body president says she was accosted by someone who shouted at her "You Indian piece of shit!"

Rini Sampath, who is Indian American, was walking back from a friend's apartment on Saturday night when someone leaned out of a fraternity house window and shouted, "You Indian piece of shit!" In case there was any doubt that his remarks were directed at Sampath, the unnamed fraternity brother then threw a drink at her.

Sampath, a senior international relations major who serves as president of USC's Undergraduate Student Government, shared the account of what happened to her in a Facebook post. She says that one of the assailant's fraternity brothers began to apologize -- after realizing who she was.

"I couldn't quite figure out why their after-the-fact apologies deepened the wound. But one of my friends explained it to me the best this morning: 'Because now you know, the first thing they see you as is subhuman.'"

Her post goes on to make a public plea for compassion and dialogue on campus.

Last night, as I was walking back from my friend’s apartment, a student screamed out at me through the window of his...

Sampath declined to publicly identify the person who verbally attacked her, and didn't name the fraternity in her post. But USC says it has a zero-tolerance policy for such behavior, and has asked Sampath to file a formal complaint with the university's Bias Assessment Response & Support team. I say punish this asshole, start a dialogue and send the message that this behavior is not acceptable.